After the Qi army formulated a strategy, all the ministries involved in crossing the river immediately began preparations.
The soldiers of Shuiying loaded the big ship with a crossbow bed and ropes and rafts. They only waited for Zhao Tai's order to launch a campaign to forcefully cross the Huaihe River.
Zhao Tai did not dare to delay for too long, fearing that Lin'an would not be able to withstand the pressure and succumb to the Mongols, so when the three days were up, he immediately began to cross the river.
On the tenth day of March, it was a night with a moon, few stars, and northwest wind.
Lianshui County.
As soon as the fourth watch arrived, an army came out from the county town and came to the shore carrying the rafts built in the past two days.
"Military advisor, the time has come!" Wang Xiu, the commander of the Weiyuan Battalion, walked up to Wang Bin and saluted.
After formulating the plan, Wang Bin led the 3,000 men of the Weiyuan Battalion to move to Lianshui County downstream, where he launched a sheep attack, attracting the main force of the Mongolian army to stop the attack.
Wang Bin looked at the sky, nodded and said: "Commander Wang, let's go!"
Wang Xiu immediately drew his sword and shouted loudly, "Cross the river!"
The soldiers of Weiyuan Battalion had already boarded the raft. The soldiers held shields and bows and arrows and squatted on the raft. The soldiers in charge of supporting the raft heard the order and struggled to support the wooden pole. The raft immediately left the shore, with the help of the weak northwest wind. , drifting towards the south bank.
"Raise the fire!" Wang Xiu stood on the raft and shouted loudly.
The three thousand soldiers immediately lit the torches, and for a while, the river was lit with flames, which rose and fell on the river like the reflection of stars in the dark night.
On the south bank, several Mongolian scouts gathered around a bonfire. Several of them were already asleep. One scout was awakened by the urge to urinate and was standing by the river to relieve himself. Suddenly he saw the undulating fire on the other side, and his eyes widened.
"The thieves have crossed the river! The thieves have crossed the river!" The scout wiped his accidentally wet hands, turned around and shouted.
At the fourth watch, in the Mongolian army camp, Sawur was sleeping soundly when he was suddenly woken up.
"What's the matter?" Sawur sat up from the camp bed.
"Wanhu, there is a beacon warning downstream, and thieves are crossing the river from Lianshui." The guard outside the tent reported.
Sawur was startled, stood up abruptly, hurriedly put on her robe, put on her leather boots and went out of the tent, "Damn it, Zhao Tai finally lost his temper. Send the order and assemble the cavalry immediately."
In the Mongolian camp, the horn sounded, and the sleeping soldiers were awakened by the officers. They hurriedly put on their armor and took out their horses.
With the help of his own soldiers, Sawul put on his armor and hung up his scimitar, then got on his horse and led the cavalry out of the camp with a clatter of hooves.
The cavalry took advantage of the moonlight in the sky and ran south along the river bank for more than ten miles, but Sawur suddenly reined in the horse and said, "No!"
As soon as he stopped, the cavalry behind him almost ran into him, and his subordinates couldn't help but ask, "Wanhu, what's going on?"
Sawur narrowed his eyes and said, "Since the thieves crossed the river at night, how could they be easily discovered by the scouts?"
"Has the enemy ship arrived at the shore?" an officer on the side speculated.
Sawur's brows were furrowed with the word "Zou Chengchuan". He felt very tired after fighting with the Zhao thieves. He thought for a long time, "Aburi, you lead an army of 3,000 horses to march southward. The rest of the troops will stay where they are!"
On the north bank of the Huaihe River, in the Qi army camp, Zhao Tai stood on the watchtower and observed the Mongolian army camp with a telescope.
If the Mongolian soldiers were awakened by the news that the Qi army had crossed the river, the soldiers who woke up would definitely light more torches to illuminate the camp.
Zhao Tai stood on the watchtower. Only the change in the firelight of the Meng camp on the other side showed that the Mongolian army had fallen into the trap.
"Your Majesty, is there no movement yet?" Li Chunzhu frowned and said, "I just saw the beacon smoke on the south bank. The Tatars should have been alerted."
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Zhao Tai said nothing, looked at it for a while, and suddenly said: "The military counselor's plan worked. There is movement in the Meng camp."
After saying that, Zhao Tai put down his telescope and said loudly: "Give me the order, go ahead and cross the river!"
"Here!" Li Chunzhu clasped his fists excitedly.
"Forward across the river!" the military order was quickly passed on.
Lu Wende stood at the stern of the boat and immediately said to the soldier holding the oar: "Cross the river!"
Suddenly, more than 300 small boats that had been waiting for a long time rowed their oars together, and one by one, the boats left the north shore one after another.
Shortly after the small boat set off, the big ships also removed the boarding boards, raised their sails, and headed for the south bank under the cover of night.
In the night, hundreds of ferries were riding the wind and waves on the river. The soldiers were rocking the boats and oars vigorously. The scene was tense and spectacular.
Lv Wende stood on the bow of the ship in armor, holding a round shield in one hand and a spear in the other. He shouted loudly: "Brothers, work harder. The closer we get to the south bank before dawn, the greater the chance of success."
The vanguard of the Qi army rushed towards the south bank under the cover of night. At dawn, the fleet crossed the center of the river.
On the south bank, Savul sent three thousand cavalry southward, and the Mongolian Qianhu Aburi led the cavalry to gallop all the way. They ran seventy miles in two hours, and they could already see the undulating torches on the river.
"Hmph! They have just reached the middle of the river, speed up!" Aburi shouted loudly when he saw the raft on the river, "They are resting at the landing point of the bandits."
As he spoke, he jumped directly from one horse to another. The cavalry behind him also changed horses while galloping, showing extremely superb riding skills.
At this time, Aburi led the cavalry all the way, and the team was already parallel to the raft on the river. At this moment, the east became fishy white, and it was dawn.
Abri was galloping on his horse. He turned to look at the river, and his expression suddenly changed, "Damn it! Stop it!"
The galloping cavalry quickly reined in their horses and asked what was going on.
Aburi stepped on the stirrups, lifted his butt off the saddle, squinted and finally saw clearly that there were not boats on the river, but some rafts.
"You barbarian, you are so cunning!" Aburi cursed, pulled the reins, and turned around. "The first team stayed behind to monitor, and the second and third teams turned around immediately. Quick! Quick!"
The Mongolian cavalry who had just arrived near Lianshui saw clearly that the things on the river were rafts, not the Qi army's fleet. Aburi knew that he had fallen into the trap of diverting the tiger away from the mountain, and quickly led two thousand cavalry back.
During the discovery of Aburi, the Mongolian cavalry stationed on the south bank of the Huaihe River in the Chuzhou section had their eyes bulging and looked at the Qi army fleet appearing on the river in horror. They roared in horror, "Point." Beacon smoke, the barbarians have crossed the river!"
Along various sections of the river on the south bank, the patrolling Mongolian troops saw the beacon smoke and immediately pulled the reins of their horses and galloped away in the direction of the warning.
On the river, three hundred small boats were riding the wind and waves. Lu Wende stood on the bow and saw the warning beacon smoke rising from the south bank. He immediately shouted, "Pull quickly! Soldiers, prepare your weapons and prepare to fight!"
On the big ship behind the small boat, shirtless drummers beat the war drums with hammer and hammer. The drums of "Dong Dong Dong" were soul-stirring and inspired the sailors to row hard.
Finally, the boat that rushed forward reached the shore. The ship used its inertia to rush directly onto the shoal and ran aground.
Lu Wende jumped out of the boat and stood in the river water up to his knees. He held a round shield in one hand and a large gun in the other. Veins popped out on his forehead. "Brothers, charge!"
"Come on!" The officers and soldiers of the Qi army jumped off the ferry one after another, grabbed their weapons, and roared, wading ashore.
Not far away from them, nearly a thousand Mongolian cavalry had gathered. They controlled the horses that were spinning in circles. When the Qi army landed on the south bank, they clamped down on the horses' bellies and raised their scimitars with fierce faces. rushed over.
